Professional game developers can sign up today for industry insights, discussions and more.

Technology may be the foundation of video game development, but it can also be its biggest hurdle. The middle men (or machines) between a developer and the brilliant game they’re aiming to realize, tech like game engines, machine learning, and cloud integration can prove challenging and costly for studios to master. Technology companies don’t want their products to place barriers, but it’s not always clear where the challenges lie for video game studios.

To help ease that disconnect, Vision Critical, a leading provider for market research communities, is creating the Games Industry Roundtable. Discussing the latest technological developments, this growing industry insights community will provide feedback to leading technology companies through discussion forums and surveys, helping to guide the designs of future tools, learning resources and more within the games development space.

Click here to learn more about the Games Industry Roundtable

“It’s all going to be around how we can help them make great games that their players want to play, and what kind of technology will let them be innovative,” says Ciara Breslin, Director of Technology and Media at Vision Critical. “This whole idea of making sure that their customers - the gamers - are getting a great experience is number one for us. Giving game developers tools that allow them to be innovative is important. Their feedback and advice helps craft technology that helps them meet those two needs.”

Far more than just a tool for analysis, however, the Games Industry Roundtable gives game devs the opportunity to share and discuss their approach to a variety of issues, from the latest advances in tech, to more prescient challenges impacting the market.

“The big things this year that we would talk about will be, for example, ‘Tell me about your biggest challenges trying to migrate from on-premises technology to the cloud?’” says Ciara. “‘What’s keeping you from doing that?’ or ‘When you make decisions about new technology, what do you care about? What resources are you looking at and what resources are you looking for a tech company to provide so that you can make decisions?’

“And then there might be some conversations about events, like, ‘Oh look, everything’s gotten cancelled this year. How are you going about mitigating the fact that GDC is cancelled and you can’t get hands on with new technology? Are you participating in these online digital events that are taking the place of it?’”

By taking part in guided discussion forums and anonymous surveys, developers in the community will also gain valuable insight into how the industry as a whole behaves.

“If they fill out one particular survey, a portion of it will be posted back to them,” says Ciara. “So they can say ‘Oh, I remember filling out this survey about what kind of workloads people are using, or what percent of the industry is doing analytics or machine learning. How does that differ between small, medium and large studios?’ It’s that kind of industry data that they normally would not have access to.”

This ability to connect and see how other studios are tackling the same challenges is what Vision Critical believes will be most valuable to developers. It’s a chance to improve their own practices, while also sharing and helping others.

“The smaller companies, the newer ones, they’re gonna find the ability to connect with game developers and the ability to showcase their studio, if they’re talking to one another,” Ciara says. “You can comment on every post, you can also upload gamer data from your game, you can be the member of the month. It gives you an opportunity to showcase yourself, start your own conversation and get help.

“The big guys? They don’t need resources as much. They’re probably getting these reports every day, but the little and mid-market segments with less than 75 game developers in their studio don’t necessarily have the time or money to be getting subscriptions to these reports.”

Understandably, many potential members might have concerns over privacy or NDA agreements, but the entire process has been built from the ground up to be as anonymous as users want.

“Everything is anonymous, so they never divulge their name,” explains Ciara. “If there’s a discussion forum, they’re allowed to create their own fictitious username, so they’ll never be identified. The technology companies won’t know who they are, the other members don’t know who they are unless they share something in a discussion forum.”

The Games Industry Roundtable community has been designed to give members complete control over what they choose to share. If you want to highlight your studio in a member of the month post, the details are up to you. If you’d prefer to quietly answer surveys without further input, you can do that too; the rewards and access you receive won’t change.

The Games Industry Roundtable is a growing environment, so who’s welcome in this new community?

“We call them professional game developers,” Ciara says. “So these can either be full-time game developers - they’re working for an Electronic Arts, a Ubisoft, and the big ones, or the small to mid-size game studios. Size of studio does not matter, but they have to be a professional.”

And what about the oft-neglected freelancers of the world? Don’t worry, you’re also invited to pull up a chair at the table.

“It’s a big freelance industry,” says Ciara. “They might say they’re a one-person studio but maybe they’re working for multiple, or filling in as a contractor. In terms of being a member of the community and getting a chance to participate, we allow freelancers because they’re making money, they’re part of the industry, they have an opinion, you know?”

If that sounds like you, then claim your spot to become part of the Games Industry Roundtable to help shape the future of game development technologies.